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Court rulings let Honeywell dump retiree health coverage

Dayton Daily News (OH)

July 30--Dayton -- A pair of recent federal court rulings mean that thousands of retirees of Honeywell International Inc. -- including about 500 who worked in Greenville -- will soon be left without health insurance and prescription coverage.

One of the rulings was issued last week by a judge in Eastern Michigan's federal court. Another ruling came last month from the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In 2011, the United Auto Workers and Honeywell retirees sued for minimum premium contributions for health care coverage.

A similar suit was filed in Dayton'sU.S. District Court, with Judge Walter Rice ruling in February 2017 that the retirees had proven that Honeywell had agreed to provide lifetime healthcare benefits to its retirees from what was its Greenville plant.

Honeywell last year pledged to appeal Rice's ruling to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Last month, that court ruled that Honeywell does not owe lifetime healthcare benefits to retirees.

The plaintiffs in the Michigan court case -- the UAW and its retirees -- had sought summary judgment and a permanent injunction against Honeywell, in a bid to block the company from ending health benefits, something the company had warned in April that it planned to do.

Honeywell argued that there was an absence of "clear vesting language" requiring lifetime health benefits.

It argued that the "absence of any clear vesting language is particularly significant because the (collective bargaining agreements) contained express vesting language regarding other benefits, including pension benefits, which demonstrates that the parties knew how to expressly vest benefits and did not do so with respect to healthcare benefit contributions."

U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood agreed, ruling in Eastern Michigan's court that as of Wednesday (Honeywell) is not required to provide retirees healthcare coverage or to make any minimum premium contributions.

A message seeking comment was sent to a representative of Honeywell Monday.

Honeywell operated a Greenville plant from about 1960 until it sold the plant in 2011.

The plant at 851 Jackson St. in Greenville had 180 workers in 2011 when Fram was acquired by Rank Group Ltd. from Honeywell International Inc. The plant had more than 400 workers in more recent years.